Punisher Appearance

Comic book and pop culture collectible shop Astro-Zombies is celebrating its brand-new-and-improved location (four doors west of the old one, on the corner of Richmond and Central) with an honest-to-goodness celebrity visit. Ray Stevenson, star of the recently released on DVD action film Punisher: War Zone, will be at the store on Saturday, April 11, from 2 to 4 p.m. for an autograph signing. Stevenson, also known for his work as Titus Pullo on HBO’s “Rome,” is in town shooting the postapocalyptic action flick The Book of Eli for the Hughes brothers. Drop on by and say hello to the nice man. Astro-Zombies is now located at 3100 Central SE. For more info, log on to astrozombies.com.

Bizarro filmmaker Craig Baldwin brings ephemeral weirdness and conspiratorial sub pop to town

Since the ’70s, Bay Area filmmaker Craig Baldwin has been piecing together 16mm snippets of found footage and creating cinematic collages dealing with topics such as imperialism, copyright law and the paranormal. Baldwin’s efforts function as an affront to what he calls “rarefied, hushed art” and—in favor of creating a horizontal exchange rather than a hierarchy—attempt to demystify art that takes itself seriously. Six years ago, Baldwin helped establish Other Cinema Digital (OCD), a niche DVD label housing 21 titles. OCD seeks to promote media archaeology and broaden the imprint of underground film. As the culmination of the monthlong Other Cinema festival at Guild Cinema, Baldwin will make three appearances at the indie art house theater. Baldwin will accompany screenings of his latest feature, Mock Up on Mu, which explores the alternative history of “post-war” Southern California. The film is crawling with sex magic, spiritual hierarchies, devil worshipping and aerospace gone wrong. Before his visit, the Alibi got Baldwin on the horn to talk about saucers and rockets.

Z-grade sci-fi movie asks, “When is a spoof not a spoof?”

Masquerading as a long-lost film rescued from a dusty studio vault after 50 years, Alien Trespass keeps a straight face while replicating—to the letter—its creatively and financially impoverished drive-in movie predecessors. Though virtually the same gag was pulled off in 2001’s The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, Alien Trespass still qualifies as a treat for those with a nostalgic taste for Z-grade Hollywood movies.

“Southland” on NBC

Generally speaking, television producers seem to have two ideas in their bag of tricks: doctor dramas and police dramas. So it’s no real surprise to find that creator/producer John Wells is following up his 15-year run on the recently concluded med show “ER” with the new cop show “Southland.”

Week in Sloth

The Week in Sloth